Memphis Police officials have developed two possible suspects, both believed to be male, in the Sunday night shooting of 21-year-old University of Memphis football player Taylor Bradford.
At a press conference Monday afternoon, police director Larry Godwin wouldn’t discuss any possible motives, but only that the investigation in ongoing.
U of M police director Bruce Harber said the shooting may have occurred inside the Carpenter Complex, a gated apartment complex for students. Gates are programmed to only allow residents’ cars, but Harber says it’s possible that the assailants came in on foot or they may have followed Bradford’s car inside the gates.
Bradford was discovered when U of M police responded to a car wreck on Zach Curlin near Central at 9:47 p.m. Sunday night. Bradford had apparently attempted to leave the scene of the shooting in a two-door Lincoln Town Coupe but struck a tree.
Campus officials didn’t know the football player had been shot until paramedics arrived on the scene. Bradford was taken to the Med, where he later died. There were no reports of gunshots called into campus police last night, but Harber says several witnesses later said “they’d heard something.”
Ironically, police say Bradford had attended a campus safety meeting earlier in the evening.
Godwin and Harber are asking anyone with information to call the MPD homicide department at 545-5300. Godwin is also asking the Memphis City Council to add this crime to their reward program, in which witnesses who provide information that leads to solving this crime will receive $500,000.
— Bianca Phillips